Samajwadi Party’s ‘Goonda Raj’ Appears Alive And Well

There is evidence that the law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh has deteriorated since the SP won at state elections. Pictured, an Indian arms vendor posed in his shop with a double-barreled shotgun, near Lucknow, in 2007.

One of the reasons the Samajwadi Party did so well in the recent state elections in Uttar Pradesh is because it persuaded voters that lawlessness would no longer be tolerated in its party ranks.

“They were able to win the confidence of the people by saying they won’t allow their grassroots politicians do what they did last time,” said Anil Kumar Verma, professor of political science at Christ Church College in Kanpur. Widespread criminality at the hands of party goons was one of the reasons it was voted out of power in 2007.

It helped that the party’s electoral campaign this time around was spearheaded by Akhilesh Yadav, the young, media-savvy son of party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. He succeeded in giving the party a pro-development image. The appointment of the junior Yadav as chief minister was seen as evidence that the party was committed to a different kind of politics, a fact that has earned him high praise in legions of media stories in the past week.

However, widespread reports of violence in Uttar Pradesh since the party won a landslide victory have fuelled fears that, below the surface, little has changed and that the “Goonda Raj” may be making a comeback.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Akhilesh Yadav, right, at this swearing-in ceremony.

There were some early alarm signals. SP party workers attacked journalists on the day the poll results were released, demanding they declare their candidate victorious even if he lost. That same day, a child was reportedly killed by a stray bullet fired during SP victory celebrations.

Since then, episodes of violence have piled up. Many attacks have targeted Dalits, a socially-backward group that traditionally falls at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. In Uttar Pradesh, Dalits typically support the SP’s regional rival, the Bhahujan Samaj Party, which was voted out of power at the state elections.

Asha Kowtal, a leading official at a Dalit rights group, says there has been a surge in caste-based crimes in U.P. since the SP took over.

“What I am seeing now is completely different from what I have been seeing in the past two years,” says Ms. Kowtal of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch. Since the SP has been voted back, she says that dominant caste groups have been hitting back at Dalits, who lost the protection they enjoyed under the pro-Dalit BSP government. Ms. Kowtal says this, among other things, means it’s getting harder for Dalits to get police to register cases of violence against them.

Her organization, which is active in several districts in U.P., is currently looking into the case of two Dalits who have been killed in recent weeks. Both men were local leaders in their communities. An SP politician was among the men suspected of involvement in the murder of 40-year-old Munna Lal in Agra. The other case has been registered in Sultanpur.

The attacks have been symbolic as well. When Ms. Kowtal visited the district of Jaunpur shortly after the election results, she saw that a statue of B.R. Ambedkar, one of India’s founding fathers and a Dalit icon, had been torn down, allegedly by SP supporters. Statues of Ambedkar elsewhere in the state have also been targeted.

These are just some of the episodes of caste hatred that have emerged in U.P. in recent weeks.

Ms. Kowtal thinks the violence “is definitely going to go on,” a worry that is shared by many Dalits in U.P. “A return of the Goonda Raj, of the rule of thugs, that’s the fear among people,” she says.

The younger Mr. Yadav has sought to distance himself from these incidents, saying that SP members responsible for such acts will be thrown out of the party. His words were echoed by his father on Monday, who in a press conference said celebratory gun firing from party supporters would not be tolerated.

Remarkably, party supporters even created a ruckus at Mr. Yadav’s own swearing-in ceremony as chief minister, in what appeared to be an overzealous display of enthusiasm.

A party spokesman described these cases as “isolated incidents” that don’t project the true image of the party. He pointed out that several people involved in such incidents have been expelled from the party. He dismissed allegations that Dalits have been soft targets of violence since the SP victory.

Despite the new chief minister’s best intentions, such episodes expose how difficult it will be to fully weed out the party’s more thuggish elements at the grassroots level.

While the party won’t be able to get rid of all its goons, the law-and-order situation is likely to improve in coming weeks, says S. Chandrasekharan, director of the South Asia Analysis Group, a New-Delhi based think-tank.

“It will take time. It will take time but things will get better,” says Mr. Chandrasekharan, adding that the state government can’t afford to fail voter expectations on this front. “It’s on that hope only that they were given a majority… and the chief minister is aware of this.”

However, many are questioning the stated commitment of party leaders against lawlessness. The SP had fielded more candidates facing criminal charges than any other party in the state, according to a recent report by an independent election watchdog. The party also enjoys the support of dubious allies. They include Raghuraj Pratap Singh, best known as “Raja Bhaiya,” or elder brother, who now sits in the cabinet. Mr. Pratap Singh faces a slew of criminal charges including attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery. This makes him one of the most controversial, high-ranking figures in U.P. politics.

Mr. Pratap Singh’s responsibilities in his new role include prisons, an appointment that is already raising questions on Mr. Yadav’s law-and-order credentials. SP officials declined to comment on Mr. Pratap’s Singh appointment. (In the past, the SP has said that its party members are innocent and victims of a witch-hunt.)

Mr. Chandrasekharan, the political analyst, says Mr. Yadav likely had to appoint Mr. Pratap Singh to appease party members close to him. “They can’t get rid of them completely,” he says of the party’s more notorious elements. “But they can be made more marginal,” he adds.

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